by <unknown>
"Brother Yao—"
Li Jialing asked in a hurry, "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine. I simply increased the speed of metabolism by ten times and consumed countless cells before I vomited the dead cells in the blood to make room for the new cells."
Li Yao said, "Grab two growth hormones for me to stimulate the development of new cells."
Swallowing three dosages of growth hormones that were specially designed for the experts above the peak of the Core Formation Stage and digesting the drug that was supposed to be absorbed in days, making it flow around his body in ten minutes to nurture his burning brain, Li Yao took a long breath in relief and was finally back to himself for the next round of investigation.
This time, he did not scan the whole area but chose a more accurate approach.
Dozens of his telepathic thoughts crawled into the Cosmos Rings that he just threw in the corners of the street, like transparent threads flying in the wind.
Shua! Shua! Shua! Shua!
The Cosmos Rings let out feeble quakes. From the Cosmos Rings, super-tiny spiritual puppets even smaller than mosquitoes crawled out.
Those "spiritual bugs" were produced with Li Yao's super delicate refining techniques under Xiaoming and Wenwen's brand-new design. They were as good as the cutting-edge products of the same type in the Imperium, if not better.
The thirty-six spiritual bugs invaded the Commodity Market without a sound. Thanks to their special alloy materials and the anti-scanning coating, they did not trigger the alarm system in the market at all.
Six of the bugs floated above the simmering crowd, while the other thirty crawled into the ventilation tubes, maintenance tubes, and cable tubes wherever there was a gap.
At this moment, Li Yao completely set himself in the role of an assassin, analyzing where he should attack if he were one.
Very soon, Li Yao had astounding discoveries.
One… Two… Three!
He found three armed assassins in the ventilation tubes of the Commodity Market!
Although the three assassins were all wearing stealth camouflage cloaks and hanging on the wall of the ventilation tubes like paper, with their breaths, heartbeats, and temperatures reduced to the minimum through the special techniques, Li Yao saw through them immediately.
"What's wrong with the ventilation tubes these days? Have they become supermarkets? Why are there so many people?"
Li Yao mumbled to himself. Then he vaguely felt that something was wrong. The three assassins had chosen perfect angles of assassination. In other words, the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors was too weakly defended. How could they allow other people to occupy such "commanding heights" so easily?
Li Yao recalled the "Godly Might Prison", known as the greatest prison of the Imperium. The ventilation tubes there were thick and long, but every ten to twenty meters, a jailor had been asked to be stationed there.
Even though the Seven Seas Grand Market couldn't have been as thoroughly guarded as the Godly Might Prison, it still seemed rather unbelievable that somebody could break into those places so easily.
Thinking about that, Li Yao grew even warier. He scanned the environment even more prudently. As he expected, from the darkness somewhere far away, a few vague auras locked onto the three ignorant assassins.
That explains a lot. The three assassins have long been discovered by the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors. They are simply left alone because the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors wants to capture those behind them, right?
Li Yao thought to himself. Speaking of which, according to Li Wuji's intelligence, the four families have selected at least a hundred people for the shocking assassination. The experts mobilized from the Li family alone are almost fifty. But there are only three goofy assassins who are obviously here to get themselves killed. Then, where are the rest of the assassins?"
The situation was complicated now.
The defenders of the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors had obviously learned the assassination plan of the four families and locked onto the three rookie assassins who had surfaced, but they intentionally indulged the assassins to continue their operation, hoping to catch those behind them.
However, the operation carefully planned by the four families couldn't have been so simple. So, the three rookies were likely to be the baits who were intentionally thrown out to be killed in order to cover the real killers in their operation.
Even the "real killers" could very likely be a smoke grenade. The trump card of the four families was perhaps one of the critical defenders of the place, or it might even be one of the four gods.
If things were as estimated, Blackstar the Great must've bought over one of the four gods as his accomplice, making the obscure turbulence even more dirty and unpredictable.
Chapter 2526: Shrimps, Small Fish, Big Fish, Shark, and Eel! |
Jin Yuyan's team was here.
To show his approachableness and fearlessness, Jin Yuyan was not on a fully-armed heavy tank but a seemingly civic limo that had been painted into gold. He was almost visible in half of the Seven Seas Grand Market.
Around the gold limo were only four cars of bodyguards. There were not many fully-armed Exos offering protection. As for whether or not one or two of the "four gods of death" were sitting inside the bodyguard cars or next to himself, Li Yao had no idea.
"He came rather early!"
Li Yao murmured to himself.
Today, Jin Yuyan had appeared 29 minutes and 37 seconds earlier than usual, which made Li Yao's plan even hastier.
Li Yao noticed that Jin Yuyan's arrival was like a pebble tossed to a seemingly peaceful pond, raising ripples and undercurrents.
The brainwaves surging in the air were immediately boosted by multiple levels. The airs beyond the perception of normal people ran amok like wild horses. At least a hundred people's heartbeats were accelerated by more than 10%, before they resumed peace in three to five seconds, acting as if nothing had happened.
However, more than one-third of them were touching the knuckles in their middle fingers or their index fingers with their thumbs even though there was nothing on them.
Li Yao knew that those people were rubbing the Cosmos Ring covered by the bionic skin so that they could retrieve the powerful magical equipment in case of an emergency.
The water in the air was vaporized by the scorching killing intent, making it so dry that it could be detonated with the tiniest spark.
This perilous tiny pond had its own food chain. The big fish ate the small fish, and the small fish ate the shrimps.
In Li Yao's eyes, the smallest shrimps were the rookie assassins who were lurking in the ventilation tubes above the Commodity Market with their blades and guns.
They were the baits the four assassins threw out, and they had been noticed by the defenders. Both parties were fully aware of it, except for the three of them.
The "small fish" that was slightly bigger than the three shrimps were the seven groups of people that Li Yao detected during his first scanning. Among the seven groups of people, there must be the plain-clothes soldiers of the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors and the elite assassins of the four families. They were all waiting for the best opportunity.
However, Li Yao did not think that the seven groups of people were the trump cards of the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors or the four families. Their experiences, expertise, and capabilities were still just mediocre and could not demonstrate the best of the two parties.
The "big fishes" even larger than the "small fishes" were the ace assassins who hadn't done any job for decades, such as the four gods of death.
Decades were enough for them to clean all their traces in the past, put on brand-new identities, and grasp a couple of critical techniques.
Both the "shrimps" and the "small fishes" were the baits that had been randomly sprayed, and the "big fishes" were the real players of the assassination game.
However, above the
"big fishes", there was an even more mysterious and fierce predator, which was the guy that Blackstar the Great had probably bought over. Li Yao called him "shark".
The "shark" was Li Yao's greatest headache because he was probably wandering beyond the board and yet controlling every chess piece on it.
Killing Jin Yuyan right now was not in the interest of Blackstar the Great. He still needed Jin Yuyan to stabilize the confidence of the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors. At the very least, he needed Jin Yuyan to win the battle of Seven Seas first before he killed him.
Therefore, until the battle of Seven Seas came to an end, even if the "shark" did exist, he would probably be loyal to Jin Yuyan and even protect him without caring about anything else when the assassins of the four families took action.
Those qualified to be bought over by Blackstar the Great were naturally the most intimate people around Jin Yuyan. Until he revealed his true face, Jin Yuyan would never have any doubt about him.
With such a shark around deceiving him, was it possible for Li Yao to persuade Jin Yuyan?
Once the shark discovered Li Yao, would he change his policy and attack Jin Yuyan immediately, even slandering that Li Yao was an assassin sent by the four families?
After all, according to the official announcement of the reformists, "Vulture Li Yao" had already defected to the four families' side. Why would Jin Yuyan believe a "traitor" like Li Yao instead of his own trusted subordinate?
"It's easy to pick out the assassins of the four families, but it's really tricky to catch this 'shark'."
Li Yao mumbled, "Also, the assassins of the four families are gradually surfacing, which means that their general attack at the Seven Seas Space Zone is about to begin. This operation cannot be delayed for too long and must be done today!"
Li Yao wished that the few rookie assassins that had been discovered by everyone would attack today.
In such a case, he would have an opportunity to take advantage of the mess.
However, his wish did not come true. Before, Li Yao had been mired in bloody disasters wherever he went. Of course, it was not his own bloody disasters but the important people around him, who often had uncanny accidents. However, while the undercurrents were raging below the water, the surface of the water was peaceful and quiet today. By the time Jin Yuyan's team stopped outside of the Commodity Market, and the kind, friendly face of the director of the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors appeared before everyone, the three rookie assassins were still absolutely quiet like three rocks of ice. Their breaths, heartbeats, and temperatures did not rise at all, and they showed no intention of preparing the heavy armor-penetrating sniper rifle in their arms.
Li Yao knew that the three rookie assassins were using the heavy anti-equipment gun named "Thunder IX". As the model with the best armor-penetrating abilities, it could pierce through three to four layers of crystal suits.
The three assassins had chosen this weapon obviously because they considered that Jin Yuyan must've carried the state-of-the-art defensive magical equipment, which could automatically unleash spiritual shields.
However, to empower "Thunder IX" with the highest damage, the weapon must be preheated at least half an hour in advance.
The three assassins did not do anything when Jin Yuyan arrived, which suggested that it was still not the best time for assassination, and they were instructed to stand still.
Now that the three shrimps were still, the small fishes, the big fishes, and the shark on the upper part of the food chain were certainly still too. Li Yao could only watch Jin Yuyan greet the merchants lightheartedly and gave a short speech on the podium outside of the Commodity Market, stating that he supported the neutrality of the nine Southern Sky Sectors and would increase the number of assets to be delivered to the expedition army so that the soldiers in the frontline would not be worried about supplies. He elaborated for ten minutes, but none of the assassins disrupted him. Finishing his speech, Jin Yuyan was about to walk into the market.
The Commodity Market had only two gates, one in the front and the other in the rear, both meticulously defended. Li Yao did not intend to meet him in such a half-enclosed environment.
He was even less interested in playing the game of "guess who I am" with the shrimps, the small fishes, the big fishes, and the shark.
If you were so fond of playing, Brother Yao would simply kick your table and see how long you can remain calm!
"Jialing, have you read the files? Destroy the jade chips after you're done and warm yourself up. Prepare to take action."
Li Yao declared aggressively, "Remember, your mission is not to assassinate or to protect anyone, but to observe the general picture and remember the most eye-catching people in the chaos to come. Then, as a common merchant, you will observe the changes in the Seven Seas Grand Market in one to two days and check who the greatest beneficiary of the chaos is. After that, you will tell all the information to me via the secret communication channel. Do you understand?"
"Got it!"
Li Jialing clenched his fists and asked, "Brother Yao, what are you planning to do?"
"The Seven Seas Grand Market today is a stagnant pool. The shrimps, the small fishes, the big fishes, and the shark are too lazy to move. Then, just let me be a vigorous 'eel' and stimulate them to move."
With a smile, Li Yao declared, one word after another, "I'm going to assassinate Jin Yuyan!"
He blew a whistle, and a streak of redness dashed out of the Cosmos Ring on his finger. Melting together with the mental devil that lunged out of his forehead, it revolved quickly and aimed at Jin Yuyan with thirty-seven walls in between.
For Neltharion that had been modified too many times and enhanced by the mental devil, the walls made of common materials were no harder than paper.
At this moment—
Surrounded by dozens of magnates in luxury clothes, Jin Yuyan was about to step into the Commodity Market.
The seven groups of suspicious assassins and bodyguards were wandering about aimlessly two to three blocks away. Perhaps they all thought that they were the main players of the game of assassination and that the enemy hadn't discovered them yet.
The "big fishes" and the "shark" that were better hidden still hadn't exposed themselves. They were perhaps some of the bodyguards or magnates that were right next to Jin Yuyan.
On the other hand, the three bugs that Li Yao remotely controlled with his telepathic thoughts had landed on the back of the three rookie assassins at the end of the ventilation tube.
Narrowing his eyes, Li Yao extended three fingers at Li Jialing, and then two, and then one.
Li Jialing nodded his head, hinting that he was ready.
"Then… let's begin!"
With a telepathic thought, the three bugs stung the earlobes of the three rookie assassins brutally!
Earlobes were among the most sensitive body parts of a human body. Besides, when the three bugs stung the three rookie assassins, they also exploded and unleashed soul-stirring shrieks, "We're exposed! Do it now!"
The three rookie assassins jumped to their feet immediately.
In the meantime, from the Cosmos Rings that Li Yao tossed to the trash cans on the street earlier, tremendous smoke grenades, stun grenades, and shriek bombs were spurted out, raising serial explosions everywhere!
Chapter 2527: Vulture Li Yao, the Ace Bodyguard! |
Of the bodyguards, the assassins, the assassins who pretended to be bodyguards, and the traitors among the assassins who pretended to be bodyguards, none foresaw such explosions that were bursting out in almost five locations around the Commodity Market at the same time.
Although what Li Yao used were the smoke grenades, stun grenades, and shriek bombs that carried little actual damage, they were even more intimidating than real crystal bombs.
Within one moment, the few pieces of regular glass within thousands of meters were all shattered, and the tempered glass had cracks that looked like spider webs. Countless tubes were br
oken, spurting out scorching steams in huge noises.
Too many people were so shocked that their hearts almost stopped beating. Their ears were humming and secreting hot fluids. Even their souls were like a lone boat on a surging ocean, unable to be back to themselves for a long time.
Raging smoke rose to the sky and sprawled like dozens of black trees. Very soon, the environment around the Commodity Market was turned into a dark forest where one could not even see his own fingers.
Those smoke grenades had been added with "special spices" by Li Yao. They could block the eyesight and release a stimulating aroma, and they could even disrupt the wireless signals of the Spiritual Nexus as well as the telepathic search of the Immortal Cultivators, turning everybody into headless flies that couldn't see or hear anything!
Of course, the real experts were not affected.
While most of the passers-by and merchants were caught in chaos, the bodyguards and the assassins who were as calm as before, if not even more daunting, became as eye-catching as fireflies in a dark night.
At first, the three rookie assassins jumped to their feet after hearing the voices that exploded into their ears.
Having been asked to carry out such a mission that was almost suicide, they were naturally not the smartest people. Also, Li Yao's voices were mixed with temptation and hypnotization, making it sound like an irresistible and unquestionable order.
Two of the rookie assassins did take action quickly as if they suffered an electric shock. Taking out their heavy sniper rifles, they prepared to shoot Jin Yuyan despite the gate in between.
The last rookie assassin was smarter than his partners. Not having the time to bother with his gun, he simply crouched his body into the size of a cat and retreated to the exit of the ventilation tube, trying to escape.
The three "shrimps" were the crux of the predicament. Now that they had taken action, the defenders who had locked onto them had to follow.
